Seeing Windcliff, the private garden of plantsman Dan Hinkley and architect Robert Jones, was a huge draw on the Puget Sound Fling tour. I read and reviewed Dan’s book Windcliff a couple years ago and hoped I might be able to visit the garden one day. And now I have!

I entered Windcliff from the next-door neighbor’s garden via this rustic-contemporary gate. I love that the two gardens have such a welcoming connection. Metal mesh makes a low fence and tops the slender arbor.

The lower half of the gate is adorned with glass marbles clasped within metal rings. Dangling from the top rail, wavy-stemmed metal circles add a touch of whimsy.

On a fence post, an Audrey-esque ceramic plant stands guard.

You pass through a woodland garden, where a contemporary totem sculpture rises amid the trees.

I like this totem even better, and it looks great with the white variegated tree behind it.

Clumps of bamboo — each one like a cresting green wave — make a leafy, rustling tunnel.

Peekaboo

Alstroemeria

I did a double-take seeing pomegranate flowering in July, rather than May like in Austin.

As I reached the house, I found Dan talking with tour-goers eager to chat with him. He’s a superstar in the world of plant geeks.

An arrangement of fiber planters — like a 3D Mondrian — lines the driveway. I read on Janet Davis’s The Paintbox Garden blog that Dan and Robert bought inexpensive fiber pots, knocked the bottoms out of them, stained them a unifying color, and planted them with “woodland treasures,” elevated so as to be dog-proof. Clever!

At the front door, a sausage vine swags around porch posts, dangling chunky lavender fruits that echo the purple shake siding of the house. I was fascinated by this plant but wasn’t entirely sure if the sausage fruits were real or lifelike ceramic art.

I mean, look at this! Real or not?

A water-filled stone basin — one of many in the garden — makes a dog-sized drinking bowl here. A cascading Japanese maple in an elevated pot offers a lovely accent.

Cute pup

A grove of ceramic bamboo — by Marcia Donahue, I believe — mingles with living plants along the house.

A tile mosaic floor dresses up a utilitarian outdoor shower.

And then I reached the sunny back garden, which (like its neighbor, the Brindley Garden) sits high on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound. Palm trees stand tall, creating verticality without shading the understory. In the foreground, a chorus of pitcher plants, yellow-green and blood red, crowd around a rock basin.

That held my attention for a while. I wonder how many bugs these carnivorous plants can eat in a year.

Lots of great texture here, with yuccas, palms, pitcher plants, and more.

A waterlily pond opens up below the pitchers.

Along the back of the house, metal ants march across a table-sized boulder. Abutilon and potted plants add greenery.

Playful garden art

A handsome manzanita with crooked trunks and flaking bark grows at the patio’s edge. Are those concrete cushions scattered across the paving? I should have nudged one with a toe to be sure.

Sure looks like it

A rill slices through the paving…

…and curves around to the pond. Step over the stream and you find a table crafted by local artists Little and Lewis.

An ammonite floral design graces the tabletop.

A starfish-like plant — a nolina? — drapes across a rock.

More palms and pitchers

Birds must love these rock water basins.

The larger garden beckons, but I’m saving that for part 2 of my Windcliff visit.

For now let’s meander along the back patio, where a collection of fir cones offers a sense of place…

…even as West Texas beaked yuccas show that gardeners can grow almost anything — cool climate and hot climate plants — in the Pacific Northwest.

I spotted a couple of Leggy Log planters by Dustin Gimbel on a table. I love these funny, wood-grain ceramic pots and have one myself.

A ceramic rendition of an agave “planted” in a pot. Now I’m wondering about those sausage vine fruits again!

The Flingers were enjoying being at Windcliff, surrounded by rare and unusual plants Dan has collected on plant-hunting expeditions all over the world. What a place.

Up next: The bluff garden and more at Windcliff (part 2). For a look back at the beautiful Brindley garden, Windcliff’s next-door neighbor, click here.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the world of succulents and cacti at the Austin Cactus and Succulent Society’s Fall Sale on 8/31 and 9/1, from 10 am to 5 pm. Held at the Austin Area Garden Center in Zilker Botanical Garden, it includes a plant show with specimen cacti and succulents, handcrafted pottery, daily silent auction and hourly plant raffles, and expert advice. Entry included with the cost of admission at Zilker Botanical Garden: Adults $6 to $8, Seniors $5 to $7, Youths $3 to $4, Children under 2 free.

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.